Why Do We Sing After Communion? | Matthew 26:30

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. If you have Holy Communion in your church, you probably have noticed that most of the time you sing a hymn after communion is finished. Why is that?

[00:00:20] Well, we're in the book of Matthew chapter 26 and we come to this verse, verse 30. Now remember, Jesus is celebrating the Passover.

[00:00:27] He institutes the Last Supper, the Lord's Supper. They partake in that. And now this is what it says in verse 30.

[00:00:34] And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. When they had sung a hymn.

[00:00:40] Now, the Mount of Olives was just east of the city walls of Jerusalem.

[00:00:44] They had to walk through the Kidron Valley, go to the top of the mountain. The Mount of Olives is not very tall, but it overlooks the city of Jerusalem.

[00:00:51] And so they went there. And remember, Jesus just the night or two before had given the Olivet Discourse where he talked extensively about what's going to happen when he comes back.

[00:01:02] He spent the nights during Holy Week in Bethany right near that location.

[00:01:06] But this time they only went as far as the Mount of Olives.

[00:01:10] And what they do as they were heading that way after they had had the supper, after they had had the meal, they sang a hymn.

[00:01:19] Now, sometimes people say, well, what hymn did they sing?

[00:01:21] It probably was what we call the great halil in Psalms 115 to 118.

[00:01:28] And three things probably in those verses had special significance to Jesus.

[00:01:34] First of all, Psalm 116 verse 12, which talks about keeping your vows.

[00:01:39] Psalm 117 that talks about the Gentiles joining in praise.

[00:01:44] And Psalm 117 or 118 verse 17 that talks about having confidence in the ultimate triumph.

[00:01:52] Now think about that. This is what Jesus did.

[00:01:55] He kept his vows to go to the cross to die and that vow to rise again.

[00:02:01] He kept that vow.

[00:02:03] Now, all Gentiles all over the world are called upon to praise him because of what he's done.

[00:02:10] And what has he done?

[00:02:11] Psalm 118 verse 17.

[00:02:14] He has, we have confidence in his ultimate triumph over sin and hell and death through his death and resurrection.

[00:02:22] This is why we sing a hymn after the Lord's Supper.

[00:02:26] And oftentimes in Lutheran churches down through the years, people sang what we call the Nunc Dimittis,

[00:02:32] which is based on the song of Simeon after he had a face to face encounter with the tiny babe Jesus.

[00:02:38] What did he say?

[00:02:40] Lord, now let us, thou thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation,

[00:02:46] which thou was prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

[00:02:52] Many times I, growing up in the Lutheran church, that's what we sang.

[00:02:57] And I loved it because we sang it right after communion.

[00:03:01] So here they have the Lord's Supper in the upper room in Jerusalem.

[00:03:06] And they sing a hymn as they're heading to the Mount of Olives.

[00:03:11] How cool is that?

[00:03:13] So my friend, I've got a question for you.

[00:03:16] Do you sing at the end of the day?

[00:03:19] Right now, we're camping with our grandkids.

[00:03:23] Our daughter, Ruth's four oldest kids.

[00:03:26] And my wife, oftentimes at the end of the day, especially to the little ones, will sing Jesus Loves Me.

[00:03:33] When we were growing up, when we were growing up, when our kids were growing up in our household,

[00:03:38] at the end of the day, oftentimes we would sing the doxology.

[00:03:40] Our youngest son, Josiah, especially remembers that.

[00:03:44] And we'd sing it every night at the end of the day.

[00:03:47] Here, at the end of this supper, they sing this marvelous hymn based on the book of Psalms.

[00:03:53] Oh, and I forgot to say, the leader would usually recite part of the psalm,

[00:03:58] and then the respondents would say, Hallelujah.

[00:04:01] He'd read another part.

[00:04:02] Actually, he didn't read it.

[00:04:03] He'd recite it.

[00:04:04] He'd recite another part.

[00:04:05] And the participants would respond by saying, Hallelujah.

[00:04:09] How cool is that?

[00:04:11] That's why singing in church is so proper and so upright and so godly and a good thing to do.

[00:04:18] So it is in your home.

[00:04:20] I would encourage you at the end of the day that you sing a hymn of praise to the Lord.

[00:04:25] And you might be saying, well, I don't sing very well.

[00:04:28] Who cares?

[00:04:30] Haven't we heard the passage?

[00:04:31] Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

[00:04:34] The Lord loves to hear us sing praises to him.

[00:04:38] And how cool is it that at the end of the Lord's Supper, at the end of the Passover,

[00:04:43] the disciples and Jesus sang a hymn of praise to the Lord

[00:04:46] in response to what they had received in this precious meal.

[00:04:50] I love it.

[00:04:51] So that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:04:53] Bottom line of this devotion, don't be afraid to sing praises to God,

[00:04:57] but especially at the end of the day, especially at the end of Holy Communion.

[00:05:02] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:05] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:05:07] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Ullman.

[00:05:10] Pastor Dave Ullman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

[00:05:15] If this ministry is blessing you, please consider supporting us by sharing this channel with a friend.

[00:05:20] You can also like, comment, subscribe or leave a review.

[00:05:23] This helps us tremendously.

[00:05:25] Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.